We are now on the verge of the biggest set of constitutional changes in living memory. Even if Scotland votes No, there is going to be a move towards a far more federal UK.
The timetable Gordon Brown is announcing this evening for a ‘Home Rule Bill’, borrowing the phrase off Gladstone and the Lib Dems, is a demonstration not only of how concerned the Unionist parties are about the polls coming out of Scotland but how quickly this will all happen. Brown envisages a new settlement by the end of January next year.
Now, there is a question about whether it is wise to change the constitutional fabric of the United Kingdom at such a speed. But this is what the Unionist parties now believe is necessary to save the Kingdom.
This, though, means that they are also going to have to come up with an answer to the English question. In days gone by, it might have been possible to simply duck it but with Ukip ready to pounce on any sense that England is getting a raw deal, there will have to be a response to it. We are about to enter an era where the constitution matters in politics in a way it hasn’t since Irish independence.
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